destroyer

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English destroiere, also destruier and destroier,^[2][3] formed from English destroy + -er^[4][5][6][7] and probably partly borrowed from Old French destruiere,^[4][3] from destruire (“to destroy”).^[3][4] Anglo-Norman had the agent noun destruour, also spelled destruiere, from the mid-12th century, for a destroyer or a squanderer.^[8] destroy goes back, through Vulgar Latin *dēstrūgō, a refashioning, to Latin dēstruō (“to tear down, demolish”), from dē- and struō (“to pile up, build”).^[3][4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person or thing that destroys: 1382, in the early Wycliffite Bible (Revelation 9:11).^[4] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century, as "a plunderer, a killer".^[3]

Semantic evolution

The general sense has lasted since Middle English, and Chaucer used the word once.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who destroys or lays waste, a murderer.^[10] The naval sense is a shortening of torpedo-boat destroyer (1885): such ships were built to guard battleships and merchant ships against small, fast torpedo boats.^[3][4] Confusingly, an improved torpedo boat designed by John Ericsson and launched in New York in 1878 had been named Destroyer.^[3] The class has generally been called destroyers since World War I, when their main work became escort duty and attacking submarines.^[3] In Jamaican slang a destroyer is a deceitful man.^[11]

Timeline

• 1382 – a person or thing that destroys.^[4]
• 1885 – torpedo-boat destroyer.^[3]
• 1893 – a small fast warship, originally for attacking torpedo boats.^[4]
• 1894 – the naval sense in Etymonline.^[3]
• 1943 – West Indian slang, a deceitful man.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, fast warship armed with guns, torpedoes and often missiles, used to escort other ships and to attack submarines.^[5][12][4]
2. A person or thing that destroys: Frost is the destroyer of tender seedlings.^[5][12][4]

Word family

• self-destroyer
• destroyer escort
• tank destroyer

Related words

• destroy
• destruction
• destructive
• construct
• structure

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins